Relief

Pedro Obiang’s heavily deflected goal was the moment of luck West Ham and their manager needed to set them on the way to their first points of the Premier League season as Huddersfield suffered their first defeat. It was a well deserved win on Slaven Bilic’ 49th birthday!

The Hammers with Andy Carroll back in the team after a lengthy spell on the sidelines, and without Mark Noble who did not even make the bench, started with determination and clearly dominated the first half in the London rain.

Chicharito hit the bar in the first half, but was subbed in the second half not making much of an impact in this game. This might have been Slaven Bilic’ fault though, who played the striker wide on the left in a 3-4-3 formation where the Mexican seemed to be less effective than in his last games. In contrary, winger Michail Antonio had a man of the match performance with his powerful runs and physical presence, and also Andy Carroll showed what his involvement means for the team.

The breakthrough came in the 72nd minute when Obiang‘s 25-yard strike hit Mathias Jorgensen‘s back and looped over keeper Jonas Lössl. This was the first goal that Huddersfield have conceded in their first season in the top flight.

And the second came five minutes later when substitute Andre Ayew – whose introduction for Hernandez was booed by West Ham’s fans – turned the ball home from three yards out. In the end Hernandez’ substitution turned to be a match-winning move as Ayew had set up Obiang’s goal and then poked home after Fonte‘s shot from Aaron Cresswell‘s corner was blocked. West Ham’s corners and set pieces though never caused real threat for Huddersfield, that’s really an issue which has to be adressed in training!

Monday’s result means a big relief for everyone at West Ham. Still the Hammers are only third from bottom in the table, but having won their first points of the season in their fourth game now, the season will get better, that’s for sure! Especially that West Ham won this game at home is very important for their supporter’s mood and for the atmosphere around the LS in the games to come.